Masonry Magazine June 2000 Page. 20
As-Built Drawings
The contractor is required to submit to the owner, via the general, a set(s) of record drawings that illustrate any deviations and differences to the plans and specs that occurred during the course of construction. These are referred to as as-built drawings and become important reference material for those future inhabitants of the building or project that you're creating. Most projects do encounter a number of changes along the line and it's crucial for the future inhabitants to be sure that - for instance - that the non-load bearing wall that their maintenance people are about to cut a door opening into wasn't changed to a load-bearing wall during construction.
Normal as-built procedure calls for each trade to take an original set of plans & specs and mark in red (or additional colors if appropriate for clarity) any and all changes that occurred during the course of construction, which relate to their own scope of work. The general or prime contractor (which could be the mason contractor) then gathers the individual trade as-builts, adds in his own set, and compiles a master set of record drawings that are turned over to the owner at closeout.
Operations & Maintenance Manuals (O&M)
Often referred to as O & M Manuals, these are most often 3-ring bound, subject segmented, collections of information regarding the primary plumbing, mechanical, and electrical equipment that was installed on the project. The manuals commonly include emergency instructions and procedures, warranty information, parts lists, wiring diagrams, cycling & inspection schedules, maintenance protocol, general product data, testing & balancing reports, fixture lamping schedules for lighting, and anything else relevant to the operation of a particular piece of equipment. Even shop drawings, generated during the actual construction, are often included as part of the O & M Manual. Now, for the most part, the mason contractor would seldom be involved in O & M's.
Warranties
There are basically 2 types of warranties submitted at the end of every project: product warranties and labor warranties. Most of the time, warranting labor is simply a matter of creating a letter stating that your company will guarantee your workmanship for a specific period of time... and then honoring the commitment. Though one year (after the project is complete) is a common time period, you could be required (by the original project specification) to provide coverage for more or less than the one year period.
Collecting and assembling product warranties can be a bit more involved, but still relatively straight-forward. Most often, product warranty information will be provided with the equipment when it's delivered, so it becomes more an exercise in gathering up all of the individual pieces and then organizing them in a way-generally according to CSI division - that can be accessed and understood in the future, should the need arise.
Final Inspections
Inspections occur throughout the entire construction process - not just at closeout but at some point, someone will ask for final inspection documentation. So you better be ready. This not only includes general construction inspections, but also encompasses all of the mechanical, plumbing, and electrical inspections that are generally required by the governing bodies.
Final Cleaning
In most commercial construction specifications, the general contractor is required to include the final cleaning in his scope of work. You, the mason contractor, will also likely be responsible to clean up after your own operations. This includes not only the building(s), but also the associated site and adjacent properties (if your building debris has blown past the lot lines.) Clean-up can be a substantial undertaking and can run into big dollars for everyone. Common cleaning responsibilities on a project include the building surfaces (which will likely involve you), glass & glazing (including the often laborious task of scraping the labels off the windows), all floor coverings, raking and general cleanup of the outside, and much more.
Removal of Temporary Constructions
This most often includes temporary enclosures for protecting the public or for winter weather constructions designed to retain heat while performing cold-weather masonry. But for others, it could also involve the removal of a temporary access road, a mock-up created during the submittal process, temporary electric & pole, and any other fabrications that won't be a part of the final product.
Coordinating the Closeout Activities of Subs & Suppliers
The mason contractor has his own set of close-out activities that he must perform, but in addition, he may also have another responsibility: to insure that all of his appropriate subs and suppliers provide the closeout material required of their scope of work. The absence of one of these items may also stop the money flow, and that's what we're all trying to avoid. For the mason, this might include items such as product warranties, material lien waivers, additional stock requirements, and more. These closeout responsibilities are described in the individual (CSI) trade specification sections in the manual that often accompanies the working drawings for the project.
Training for Customer's Employees
Again, this doesn't normally affect the mason contractor as much, but this requirement includes providing training for the customer's employees regarding the start-up/shut-down, emergency procedures and operations, how to adjust for excessive noise and vibration, general safety procedures, economy and efficiency strategies, and effective energy utilization of new (and unfamiliar) equipment or systems. Chances are, if you ever did have any responsibility along this line, it would likely be in the cleaning and maintenance
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